Traditional vs. Ego Stroke

i have been to many shows and always seem to leave before trophy time just cause i dont care. i have more fun out on the road then sitting behind it wipping it with a towel. it is funny when a package comes in the mail with a trophy in it . it just becomes something i got to get rid of now. the only trophys i keep are form when i was very young and won a few shows and drag racing events with my daily driver.

 

im the same way...i always leave early then find out i won somethin..i cant even be bothered to stay to see if i won the drawing or raffle..i wonder if i ever won a new truck or crate motor??

 

Some one mentioned politics.Got to tell this, but first, I am going to say PARTICIPANT judging is a COP OUT for the promoter and should be banned from shows, et. all!

Carthage, Mo Maple Leaf festival puts on a rather large show each fall, 3 to 4 hundred cars.

Last year, one of the locals was not expectd to make it(cancer) and the club he belonged to was disbanding in his honor.
The club had some excess funds in their coffers and decided to use these funds to pay for members and invited guests to enter the show.

My 62 was one of the invited. When I was ready to drive to the show that Sat morning, it was rainy and cool, so I decided not to go.

That evening I went to a local cruise(stopped raining and turned out nice) and one of my buddies handed me a dash plaque fromm the show.
I thought that was cool of him.

He did not say anything except he and another buddy placed at the show.

A couple of weeks go by and I recieved a post card in the mail saying the car club putting on the show had my trophy available for me to pick up or I could send them 10 dollars to get it mailed to me.(I had won a first place and did not even show up!)

Politics? YES! PARTICIPANT judging sucks.

 

I never meant for this to turn into a car show bash as I think 99% of the people attending are great and the people putting on everything from a local cruise to a major event put in a ton more work than you will ever know. You just don't set up a stand and start piling up the money or else we'd all be doing it. I was just observing something that has come about in the last 10 years with people dropping ridiculous ammounts of money on cars they don't even drive and won't own after the big trophies stop coming in. Maybe they will keep building cars, maybe not. It would just be a lot cooler to see some of them driving down the road after the judging is over, but sadly these cars just disappear.

 

When I lived in North Carolina, I thought the politics of show judging was bad. Then I moved to Texas. Being new to the area, I started checking out every "show" in the area (they call them "Cruise nights", but they hand out trophies even tho they happen every 2nd Saturday April thru October ). After attending about two of these where I literally saw the host club give each other trophies... often the same owner/car would get the same trophy that he/it got a month ago. I still wonder if one of those guys would get pisssed and drop out of his club if someone else got "his" award next month. Maybe that's how the clubs around here black ball the ones thay don't like?

**EDIT: Not all the car events in TX are bad, nor are all the clubs, there were just a couple "Chainer Wanna-be" (as in they were striving to BECOME chainers!) clubs that I want no part of. --end EDIT**

Anyways, back to JimA's comments, I really enjoy a lot of the events, big or small, that are car events for the sake of getting a bunch of cars together. My experience of GG events seems to maintain this. Yeah, I know there's a lot of "cubic dollar" cars there with chainers whinin' about gettin' a little fluorescent dot on their headlight, but it is still about the cars. The whiners like the ones JimA mentioned just don't get it. If they are so caught up in why their car ain't got picked for XYZ Award, then they are in the wrong place. Now if there was just a polite way to tell them this... but as the saying goes, if I hafta explain it to you, then you prolly ain't gonna get it anyway...

 

I'm sure that "trophy" mentality is widespread across the US. I was involved for 10 years in a large New England show and saw it all. Some of these guys with the big dollar cars come to an event, and feel because they are there, they should automatically get a trophy. Unfortunately, some promoters baby these guys and help feed the fire by giving them whatever they want.
I have never been to any show that I wanted or cared if I won a trophy. As some mentioned, I usually don't even fill out the registration card. I usually shoot the shit with friends, kick back and have a few beers and watch all the trophy hounds spend the whole day cleaning their cars. If your in it only for the trophies, then your in it for the wrong reason. Plus, if a damn trophy from Jeds Backyard BBQ and Cruise night is that important, more power to you. For me it's about the people and the cars.

 

A lot of the "new" old guys get into cars for the wrong reason. At some point in middle age they find themselves with a little extra time and money and decide to take up a new "sport". The point of sport is to choose a winner. If they don't win they often "throw their clubs" or boo the Referee, like they did in the games they used to play. The Goodguys got he right idea when they decided to hold social gatherings rather than sporting events.

I gave up on my local car club after one the monthly meetings. When I mentioned I was planning to attend the Goodguys event up at Kansas City, the first response was "What type of prizes do give out?" I explained that it was just a fun gathering. The general response was “Why would I haul my car all the way to KC for fun?” I knew I was hanging with the wrong crowd.

I say if you want to compete with cars, take up racing.

 

I agree!
My trophy comes in building the car then driving what you built. That's where all the enjoyment comes from.
Paul

 

Our club puts on an annual car show that's coming up in October. This will be the 27th year and our sole purpose is to raise money for charity. Last year there were over 1,000 1959 and older cars and trucks entered. With the proceeds from this show we donated money to local charities, awarded scholarships to graduating high school seniors and bought presents for needy families at Christmas. Would people come to our show if there were no trophies awarded? I'm not sure. We have tried peer judging and judging by judges and both have flaws. One large club in town pools votes for their club cars and that draws bitches from the out-of-towners, especially when the winning cars are undeserving and the judging looks rigged. I think the way GG picks their winners may be the best and we do some of our trophies that way (cops, mayor, fire department and sponsors picking the cars). I was able to choose a car last year and picked the car I liked best. If someone had a bitch about it, they could see me. We put in a ton of work to organize this show, and spend a lot of money on it, but there are always going to be people who find something to bitch about. Last year a rusty old Model A with shit hanging all over it won a top ten award. Why? Because more people voted for that car than any of the other 1,000 cars in the show and we heard bitches about why that car won a top ten. When someone comes up with the perfect car show solution, I hope they'll let us all know the answer.

 

There's no great solution to the car show thing. I agree that participants chioce does get rigged 9 times out of 10, and judging is not always fair. But it's not just the car show thing either. I grew up showing horses, and politics played a heavy part there too. I was in 4-H, and raised sheep and cows, politics played a part in judging at fairs too. It seems that you can't get away from it. The more money and the more "connections" you have, the better you do at those types of things. It used to hurt my feelings a lot as a kid, and a lot of times I just didn't understand. I did the best I could, but "Susy" still won because her trainer was friends with the judge, and I was a backyard "nobody".

But thankfully, as an adult, I've come to not care about an award. Like you guys have said, friendship and hanging out talking about car stuff is the only reason we go to shows or cruises. Plus I like looking at the cars, and it'd be hard to do if I had to drive all around town to do it.

 

Honestly I have never heard anyone bitch about the awards at Billetproof. Mostly I think it's because the people who come are not trophy hunters. They build cars for the love of the cars.

If you build a car for attention or trophies........you missed the point.

 

I don't take my car to car shows because I never win, and it hurts my feelings, cause I know I care more about my car, and have more blood, sweat, and tears invested in it than the guys with the high dollar billet dildo's ever will.

-Jeff

 

Like a friend of mine's wife says; They are dick measuring contests.

 

Jim
The part you really missed on the high zoot guys is that you forever have to remind them to have fun.
I was at a low buck show last weekend and noticed that everyone was haveing fun without being reminded.
Just think about it for a minute, then leme ask another question if its not fun why do it?
As for ego, some of the Trad guys have an ego problem also, but perhaps its just the highzoot guys bleedin' over. But who really cares, if you're enjoying yourself that's really all that matters.
Ya really can't be responsable for what someone else drives or if they are enjoying it or not.

 

This is just my opinion but I think the one show that's got it right is the Ty-Rods Old Timer's Reunion that is coincidentally coming up this weekend.
They limit the entries(at least up until this year)to 1200.The entry fee includes a double sided T-shirt(usually by Bruce Kaiser),a mug that sports the same art and the first fillup is free,a nice dash plaque,and assorted handouts.There are NO trophies awarded,but there are door prizes(usually advance registrations for the next year's show)and a grand prize of a crate motor(only registered owners are eligible and you have to be there to win).
You see more nice old iron there than any other show I can name and up until this year anyway the cutoff is 1959 so there are no muscle cars or Corvettes(unless they are early ones)or bikes(with the possible exception of a certain nailhead powered one).
I don't know how it's going to go off this year(I didn't register so I'm not going)as the venue has been changed and the cutoff point has been adjusted but I'm sure it will be another fantastic show.Oh yes the only vendors are food vendors.So if you're in Massachusetts this weekend,check it out;you won't be disappointed.

 

"As for ego, some of the Trad guys have an ego problem also, but perhaps its just the highzoot guys bleedin' over. But who really cares, if you're enjoying yourself that's really all that matters. "
Traditional and high Zoot have been overlapping heavily in recent years--lots of recent converts/faddists are quite proud of their high dollar acquisitions of early Ford and speed parts, and flaunt the results as show ratrods or traditional rods--and the real surviving cars have joined the Classic set at pebble beach. Imagine what something like the Spencer or Scritchfield or Livingstone rods would fetch at a current auction run the day after Pebble Beach! I'm hoping the zoots will go on to something else soon, though there are still enough hardcore traditionalists around to keep '32 Fords and such insanely expensive. I've been trying to get hold of '32 and flathead stuff now since I was a child, and have seen every stage from utter obsolescence through streetrodd survival through goldchainer to Pebble Beach. I just want the blasted trend to go away and leave us permanently fixated nutcases alone.

 

The best part of most car shows is the parking lot.